Great American Indian Speeches v1 p2

The words of Geronimo, Black-Hawk, Cochise, Chief Joseph and others

Edited by Arthur Junaluska.
Read by Vine Deloria, Jr. and Aurthur Junaluska

Maria L. Facchina has lived most of her life in the Washington D.C. area and presently functions as a Research Assistant for the India Education Task Force of the American Indian Policy Review Commission there. Prior to her joining this congressional commission, she worked on a grant from the John Hay Whitney Foundation to prepare a study of the history of financing and policies affecting Indian education.

Aurthur S. Junaluska's face and voice are familiar from his many appearances on the motion picture and TV screen. His screen credits include "It Gives Me Great Pleasure," "The Power and the Glory," "The Happy Warrior" and "Showdown at Ulcer Gulch," in which the parts he has played included not only Sioux, Chereokee, Navajo and Seminole Indians, but also Mexicans and other "ethnic" roles. On television, he has played scores of characters, narrated the ABC television documentary "The Last Trail," was seen as Major Ridge in the NET production of "Trail of Tears," and as Blacktree in "Hospital." On the stage, he has appeared in plays ranging from murder mysteries to Shakespeare, including the Indian drama "The Arrow Maker" which he also produced and directed, and the folk-ballet "Dance of the Twelve Moons," which he wrote and choreographed as well. A descendant of two great chiefs and sages of the Cherokee nation, Junaluska and Yonaguska, Mr. Junaluska also has served as artistic director of the American Indian Society of Creative Arts, which he founded.

Vine Deloria, Jr., who is generally acknowledged to be today's leading Indian spokesman, was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1933, and was educated at reservation schools and at the Kent School in Connecticut. He received a B. S. degree from Iowa State University in 1958, and earned a masters degree in Theology at Augustana College, a Lutheran seminary in Rock Island, Illinois in 1963. From 1964 to 1967, Mr. Deloria was executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, with offices in Washington, D.C. While there, a plethora of Indian problems was thrust upon him, and Mr. Deloria gained much experience working with the United States government, especially the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mr. Deloria entered the University of Colorado School of Law in 1967 and took his J. D. degree three years later. His reason for studying law, as he expressed it at the time, was to help "smaller tribes and Indian communities to achieve a balance program in which their rights are clearly outlined." Vine Deloria Jr. is a the author of, among other books, Custer Died For Your Sins (Macmillan), We Talk, You Listen (Macmillan), God is Red (Grosset and Dunlap), and Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties (Delacorte).

Play song

Name

Performed by

Description

Native Words

Translation

Notes

Chief Seattle Junaluska Seattle, chief of the Dwamish, Suquamish and other allied tribes of the Puget Sound area, is noted for being the first signer of the treaty of January 22, 1855, concluded at Point Elliott. By the terms of this treaty, the tribes relinquished most of their land in the Puget Sound area and agreed to the establishment of a United States agency there for their benefit. The city of Seattle was named in his honor and in the 1890 the citizens of the town erected a memorial over his grave.

In 1853, on the occasion of the visit of Mr. Stevens, Governor of the Washington Territory, Chief Seattle responded to his speech with words filled with the ever-present awareness of the fundamental differences between red and white.
Dwamish, Suquamish
Little Crow Deloria Little Crow, a Sioux chief of the Kaposia band, was a signer of the Treaty of August 5, 1851 at Mendota, Minnesota which relinquished most of the Minnesota lands of the Dakota to the United States and removed many bands, including the Kaposia, to a reservation on the upper Minnesota River. Despite his concurrence in this agreement, Little Crow was very disturbed about it, and in August of 1862 he led an uprising which devastated many of the white settlements in the surrounding area. After several skirmishes with the United States cavalry, Little Crow and his followers escaped farther west to seek the refuge of friendly tribes. He died in July of 1863.

On August 18, 1862, the eve of the Great Sioux War in Minnesota, Little Crow vehemently declared his undying desire to stand and fight with his brother tribesman against the unreasonable odds seeking to subdue their efforts to protect their land and their heritage.
Sioux
Coshise Deloria As chief of the Chiricahua Apache of Arizona, Cochise maintained friendly relations with the United States until 1861, when a misunderstanding arose between a group of his chiefs and the United States military concerning the kidnapping of a white child. Despite their flag of truce, the chiefs were seized and accused of having committed the crime, and all except Cochise, who escaped, were hanged by the U.S. troops. Avenging the deaths of this companions, Cochise led many attacks on white settlements in Arizona. Later, after the Civil War, he fought United States troops when they returned to continue hostilities against the Apache. In 1871 he surrendered and moved to the Chiricahua reservation when it was established in 1872. He died there in June of 1874.

In speaking at the council at the Canada Alamosa Indian Agency in September 1866, Cochise lamented the ruin of his people, despite his own dauntless attempts to protect them.
Apache
Lone Wolf Deloria As a prominent leader and skilled arbitrator of the Kiowa, Lone Wolf attended numerous conferences and council fires during the period of incredible unrest among the Plains Indians in the mid-1880's. He represented his tribe's interests with skill and candor, the force of his words backed by the stature of his chieftainship and his celebrated ability as a warrior. He died in 1879.

At a peace council held at the Big Bend of the Arkansas River in Kansas in 1866, Lone Wolf spoke simply, yet eloquently, of his spiritual awareness.
Kiowa
Chief Ten Bears Deloria Chief Ten Bears, a prominent chief and eloquent spokesman for the Comanche tribe, took an active part in the negotiations at Medicine Lodge Creek in 1867. For years the Indians of the Southern Plains had been fighting to retain free and unrestricted use of the land they had roamed for so long. By the terms of his treaty, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe received four million acres and the Comanche, Kiowas and Apaches were assigned three million acres in southwest Oklahoma. All agreed to removal but the disastrous effects to their way of life was passionately and desperately portrayed by Ten Bears in his address to the commissioners and council members.

Chief Ten Bears died October 23, 1872, still actively entreating his people to accept the white man's presence and to avoid continual devastation.
Comanche
Chief Satanta Junaluska Satanta was one of the most influential and celebrated of Kiowa chiefs. A strong leader as well as an eloquent speaker, he was known as the "Orator of the Plains" and was highly respected for his keen perception and forthright approach. By signing the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek he agreed to move to a reservation in southwest Oklahoma with his people, but because of the tribe's hesitancy to go, he was held hostage by General Custer until this was accomplished. Later, he was arrested and imprisoned for participating in a hostile attack in Texas in 1871, but was subsequently released. In 1874 the Kiowa again began hostilities and Santanta was arrested and sent to prison where he committed suicide in October 1878.

The speech by Chief Santanta to the council at Medicine Lodge Creek in October 1867, delivered in Spanish, demonstrates his marvelous ability to convey the devastating impact upon his people of the white push for western settlement.
Kiowa
Chief Manuelito Deloria Manuelito was a Navajo chief, chosen by his people to subdue a hostile contingent among them who openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the unsuccessful treaty negotiations of 1855. He himself was mistreated by the United States army whose activity had been hostile and destructive towards the tribe. They were removed to a reservation in eastern New Mexico in 1865 where they were most unhappy. After the Treaty of 1868, they were allowed to return to their homeland in western new Mexico and Arizona and Manuelito worked to insure that the needs of his people were met and to maintain peace among them. He died in 1893.

Chief Manuelito's remarks at the signing of the treaty in 1868 tell of his people's constant hope of returning to their beloved land and their continual frustration with insensitive authorities.
Navajo
Chief Red Cloud Junaluska Red Cloud was a principal chief of the Oglala Tetons, the largest band of the Sioux. He was a powerful leader and an ardent defender of the tribal hunting grounds of his people. For many years he fought to protect these from encroachment by white settlers and prospectors, as well as the United States Cavalry. While his performance in battle distinguished him as a noble and valiant warrior, he was also an effective and reasonable arbitrator, having taken part in many councils and conferences with the government. He died in Pine Ridge, South Dakota on December 10, 1909.

As leader of the Peace Crusade, Chief Red Cloud's message to an audience at the Cooper Institute in New York City in 1870 eloquently conveys his desire to promote peace and understanding between races.
Sioux
Little Raven Junaluska Little Raven was a progressive Arapahoe chief, known for his dedicated efforts at maintaining friendly relations with the United States government following the signing of the Treaty at Medicine Lodge Creek in 1867. Aware of the threat to the survival of his tribe if they continued to war with the United States, he successfully kept them from engaging in hostilities when the Kiowa and Cheyenne again went to war in 1874. He continually strove to preserve peace and promote the civilization of his people until his death in 1889.

In 1871, Little Raven made a trip with other chiefs to the East, where he addressed an audience at the Cooper Union in New York City who were most attentive and were moved by what he had to say.
Arapahoe
Chief Charlot Junaluska Charlot, a principal chief of the Flatheads, was a key figure in the negotiations with the Federal Government concerning the Bitter Root valley of Montana, which had apparently been ceded to the United States by the Treaty of July 16, 1855. This valley was the ancestral home of his people and they were steadfastly unwilling to relinquish it. In 1872, a dissident faction of the tribe signed an agreement to remove to the Jocko Reservation, and this eventually led to further negotiations with Charlot to effect removal of his followers as well. This was agreed in 1889 and they moved to a reservation on the Jocko River in 1891 where Charlot died in 1910.

In 1876, Charlot spoke to his people about the attempts by the white man to possess their ancestral home in the Bitter Root Valley of Montana.
Flathead
Chief Joseph Deloria A shrewd and wise leader of the Nez Perces, Chief Joseph is renowned for his fearless fight to retain the Nez Perces land in Oregon which had been taken by the Treaty of June 9, 1863. His strength of character and perseverance inspired his people to resist the United State efforts to remove them to a reservation in Idaho. He finally surrendered in 1877 with a small remnant of this original group after an incredible flight of over one thousand miles in two months. They were moved to Kansas then to the Indian Territory and subsequently to the Colville reservation in Washington where Joseph died on September 21, 1904.

Even in defeat and surrender, Chief Joseph's nobility and courage left a deep impression on those who heard him declare "I will fight no more forever" in 1877 (Side D: Band 4). Nor was this his last intercession on behalf of his people. In 1879, while addressing Congressmen and high government officials in Washington, he again pleaded earnestly for relief for his people (Side D: Band 5). They were subsequently moved to Kansas, etc.
Nez Perces
Chief Joseph Deloria Nez Perces
Geronimo Deloria Geronimo, a Chiricahua Apache, was notorious for his escapades in New Mexico and Arizona in retaliation for the mistreatment by the Federal Government of the Indians of the San Carlos reservation. For a number of years in the early 1880's he was engaged in conflict with white settlers and the United States troops, eluding capture for several years. He finally surrendered in August of 1887, and as a prisoner of war was sent first to Florida, then to Alabama, and finally to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma were he died in 1909.

In 1886, Geronimo met with General Crook to negotiate his return to the United States and he explained his reasons for leaving the reservation.
Apache
Black Elk Junaluska Black Elk, and Oglala Sioux holy man, was only nine years old when he received his religious vision, an experience which enlightened him to his special role as a shaman for his people. He became deeply involved in the spirit world and was very active in the Ghost Dance among the Lakota Sioux during the 1880's. This religious dance, often called the Messiah Movement, was practiced by numerous tribes in the United States at that time and symbolized a preparation for the coming of a "deliverer" who would restore to the Indians their true inheritance and enable them to preserve their traditional way of life. Eventually the movement led to a series of frenzied events which resulted in the killing of Sitting Bull and the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890.

Black Elk continually sought the deeper religious significance in the experiences of his people, and his speech at Harney Peak reflects his despairing and painful awareness of the tragic fate of the Sioux people.
Sioux
Standing Bear Deloria As a strong leader and eloquent spokesman for the Sioux, Standing Bear did much to bring about a greater understanding of his people and their way of life. In his early life he was actively engaged in maintaining good relations with the United States. He is reported by the U. S. Indian Office to have been employed as an assistant teacher at the Rosebud Day School on the Sioux Reservation in South Dakota in the late 1880's and early 1890's. Later he devoted much time to writing his memoirs and he died in February 1939, having made many valuable contributions to a deeper appreciation of the Sioux people.

The material herein is an excerpt from Standing Bear's book The Land of the Spotted Eagle which expresses his deep feelings about what the Indian means to America.
Sioux